In January, foreign investors turned to net sellers in the domestic stock market for the first time in a month. They bought KOSPI shares, but the KOSDAQ "sell" stance was stronger. In bonds, they purchased more than 3.5 trillion won, showing net inflows.
The Financial Supervisory Service on Feb. 13 released "Foreign securities investment trends in January 2026," saying foreign investors' net investment in Korea's capital market in January was 3.459 trillion won.
During the period, foreigners were net buyers of 361 billion won in the main board and net sellers of 459 billion won in the KOSDAQ market. The foreign share of the domestic stock market rose to 32.0% from 30.8% on Dec. 12.
As the domestic stock market posted a record rally in January, foreign investors appear to have been net buyers focused on large-cap KOSPI names while taking profits in KOSDAQ stocks. As of the end of January, foreigners held 1,701.4 trillion won in listed shares. That is 32.0% of total market capitalization.
By country, Ireland bought 2.3 trillion won in stocks and the United Kingdom bought 1.8 trillion won. In contrast, the United States was a net seller of 7.8 trillion won and Qatar sold a net 600 billion won.
By holdings, the United States accounted for 698.1 trillion won, or 41.0% of all foreign investors. Europe followed with 537.8 trillion won (31.6%), Asia with 234 trillion won (13.8%), and the Middle East with 29.9 trillion won (1.8%).
Foreign money also flowed into the bond market for a third straight month. In January, foreigners were net buyers of 7.071 trillion won in bonds and received 3.514 trillion won in redemptions. A total of 3.557 trillion won was net withdrawn. Outstanding balances stood at 330.5 trillion won, up 1.9 trillion won from the prior month. Foreign investors held 11.9% of listed bonds outstanding.
By bond type, they made net investments of 6 trillion won in Government Bonds and saw net withdrawals of 2.1 trillion won in monetary stabilization bonds. By holdings, Government Bonds were 301.5 trillion won (91.2%) and special bonds 28.9 trillion won (8.7%).
By remaining maturity, they held 137.9 trillion won in over five years, 121.6 trillion won in one to five years, and 70.9 trillion won in under one year.